ESL Saigon

How to find an ESL/EFL teaching job in Vietnam

“Finding a teaching job in Saigon is not a difficult task!” Many people will say this but I do know that finding a job is a difficult task, not only here, in Vietnam, but everywhere in the world.

There are over 200 English language centers in Saigon and many kindergartens, they are all looking for foreign teachers of English. Definitely, the demand for English teachers in Vietnam is still high (maybe not as high as few years ago).

I don’t know why, but applying for a job through email or other online tools is useless. I have sent hundreds of CVs and I got zero answers. Probably they don’t use email (or maybe they don’t trust these kind of job applications) or maybe they can’t reply because of their poor English skills. Who knows? Only they know!

Everybody will advise you to print as many CVs as you can and go around to different schools (10, 20 schools, as many as you can). It can work, that is true, but for me this method didn’t work. Now, I have to be honest, I have applied only for good schools in district 1, 3, and 10 (schools that hire only native English speakers).

Update:
The above mentioned method works just fine. I have just tested it and it works.

This method can work for you and you can get some interviews. Call the school before you go there; tell them that you are interested in teaching for the school and you want to hand in your CV; (Update: Don’t call, just go there with your CV). I have just remembered, once, this method worked for me, two years ago. A friend of mine called few schools and asked them if they accept CVs. I was introduced to the principal of a school and I was invited to hand in the CV in the following day. Next day I met the principal and I had a short interview. I got the job!

Once you get the first job all you have to do is to build relations with other teachers (especially with Vietnamese teachers of English). Usually they work for other schools and they can introduce you to these schools if a teaching position is available. It worked for me and for sure it will work for you too.

Conclusion
You have to be here (in Ho Chi Minh City and available for an interview), hand out as many CVs as you can and build relations with other teachers. Sooner or later you will get the dream job.